Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies

• servings: 20 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

42 grams ( ⅓ cup) powdered sugar

100g (½ cup) vegan butter or coconut oil (, should be solid and chilled)

¼ to ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ to 1 teaspoon culinary lavender buds

zest of 2 lemons

165g (1⅓ cup) all purpose flour (,, plain flour in the UK)

up to 3 tablespoons plant milk (, try not to any. Only add it if you really cannot get the dough to come together without)

optional coarse granulated sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

Combine the powdered sugar, vegan butter/coconut oil and salt in a bowl. You can do this by hand with a fork (mash then beat it really well until you can no longer see any powdered sugar and it's light and fluffy) or with an electric hand mixer. Mix together until fluffy.

Add the lavender flowers and lemon zest and stir to combine.

Sieve in the flour and mix by hand until everything is combined. I start by mashing in the flour with a fork then stir together with a spoon at the end a bit. Do not over mix or use electric beaters here.Too much mixing will affect the texture of the finished shortbread.

Add the milk only if you need to to bring the dough together. The dough should be slightly crumbly but hold together if you squeeze it together in your hand. The drier you can get away with keeping the dough and the less you handle it, the better the texture of your shortbread.

Lightly dust a surface with flour and shape your dough gently into a ball. Roll out to about 3 - 4 mm thick then use a cookie cutter or mason jar lid to cut into shapes. The amount of cookies you get will depend on the size of your cookie cutter

Place the cut cookies gently on the prepared cookie sheet, sprinkle with a little granulated sugar then refrigerate for at least 15 minutes until firm.

Remove from the fridge and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.They will start turning a little golden around the edges when done but will still feel soft in the middle. They will crisp up as they cool. Everyones oven is different so time will vary slightly for everyone.

Leave the cookies on the baking tray for a couple of minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Unlike some cookies these are best eaten when completely cooled so be patient!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 83 kcal
• Total Fat: 5 g
• Saturated Fat: 5 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
• Sodium: 29 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 2 g
• Protein: 1 g